Escort to remove photo from site

By Angelica Rosas
Staff Reporter

The escort posing in a photograph as a cheerleader on the TCU brick name plate agreed Tuesday to take the picture off an escort service Web site.

“I was not trying to offend anyone,” said “Sunny,” who declined to give her real name. “I would have taken the picture down sooner but I was threatened by Detective (Kelly) Ham. If someone from the admininstration had called and asked me to take it down because it offended people, I would have done it sooner.”

McDonald Sanders P. C., a law firm that represents the university, was told it will take three to seven days to remove the picture from the Web site, attorney Robert Ginsburg said.

A portion of “Christian University” on the brick name plate on Stadium Drive is shown in the picture, which is part of an advertisement for the escort. Ginsburg said the university’s reputation is tarnished by the picture, which he says is an attempt to associate the university with the escort service.

Sunny said “it is a public domain picture.”

“I was trying to find a pretty background,” she said. “I have the cheerleader outfit from high school and thought that taking the picture was part of public domain.”

The university was planning to send a letter to the Web site host and the escort, asking them to remove any TCU likeness from the site. Ginsburg declined to comment when asked if the law firm still planned to send the letter.

He said the university wants to avoid drawing attention to the Web site by filing a lawsuit.
“There is a balance against protecting the name and reputation of the university and an effort against enhancing her business in her line of work,” Ginsburg said. “The chancellor is against furthering her career.”

The Web site, Eros-Dallas.com, has a legal disclaimer on its site disclaiming any legal responsibility for what advertisers choose to post. Though TCU’s full name is not shown in the picture, the school wants the likeness removed, Chancellor Victor Boschini said.

Attempts to contact the escort service were unsuccessful.

Sunny, who is a student but declined to say what university she attends, said she is not a prostitute and has never had sex with her clients.

“I’m trying to make a better life for myself and put myself through school,” she said. “I eventually want to be a nurse but right now I’m just trying to get an education. I’ve never considered myself a prostitute. I read that in the paper about this and I was like ‘whoa.’ ”